This year brought some surprises at the 50 Best Restaurant Awards held in London -not least of all for Gordon Ramsay. His three-star Michelin London restaurant - which last year held the 13th position, - dropped out of the world's top 100 eateries, and none of his other restaurants featured in the list.
Meanwhile, Marcus Wareing, who opened his restaurant at the Berkeley Hotel after an acrimonious split with his former boss, won the breakthrough award and has been tipped to storm into the top 50 in 2010.
World-famous Spanish restaurant El Bulli received the highest accolade of the night at the awards – which highlight the best fine dining restaurants across the globe. Head Chef Ferran Adria maintained the coveted number-one spot for the fourth year running.
Heston Blumenthal was also celebrating. His The Fat Duck restaurant retained its ranking as second best in the world, despite his venue in Bray, Berkshire, being forced to close for a period after a food poisoning scare.
"I needed some good news, that is for sure. It has been a difficult period but all I can say is the food we're serving now is better than we've ever done," said the chef. "Since the trouble, we have looked at every single element of the menu and we have a consistent team of chefs and staff."
The top 25 places – which are decided by a panel of 806 chefs, restaurateurs, food writers and critics - also included the likes of Thomas Keller's French Laundry in California placed at 12, Britain's celebrated St John at 14 helmed by Fergus Henderson and Australia's top restaurant Tetsuya's at number 17.
This year, food lovers across the world can bid for meals at many of the restaurants on the list on eBay – with all the proceed going to Action Against Hunger, the official charity partner for this year's awards.
